The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night, review

This is the sound of Beatlemania, a 13 song set that marks the flowering of a worldbeating songwriting partnership and the studio-ready confidence of their band. From the ripe opening chord (G 11th suspended 4 on guitar and piano) of the title track, the wittily titled 'A Hard Day’s Night’ is electric and utterly sure footed. Lennon and McCartney swap lead vocals, the rhythm section just bowls along and Harrison’s solo (doubled on piano) is a work of compact genius. This album is jammed with songs so familiar that just saying their titles can result in spontaneous outbreaks of singing (all together now, 'I Should Have Known Better’ …) and they are stuffed with middle eights that lesser songwriters would have built whole songs around. The playing is a bit more measured, unhurried and exact than before, The Beatles starting to really groove.

Having dispensed with cover versions, Lennon and McCartney’s own writing supplies a depth and variety that more than compensates for the absence of Brill building classics, from the close harmony balladry of 'And I Love Her’ and 'If I Fell’ to the brooding romanticism of 'Things We Said Today’, the happy swing of McCartney’s 'Can’t Buy Me Love’ and punchy, stop-start phrasing of Lennon’s bullying 'You Can’t Do That’. It’s a breathlessly thrilling album.